


Sunset, Sunrise

by Heronfem



Series: Steps [1]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Feels, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-18 02:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5894896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heronfem/pseuds/Heronfem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Krem asks his father and step-father for their blessing to propose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunset, Sunrise

Krem clears his throat halfway through dinner, and Dorian's knife slips as he's cutting his meat. Bull looks up from the end of the table, Dorian sets his knife down, and Krem says, praying his voice doesn't crack, “There's something I'd like to ask you about.”

The sun is setting, sending warm golden light through the curtains and washing them all in soft color. It's a beautiful evening, and Krem has been gearing up for this conversation for at least three months.

It's been a long time in coming, and honestly he hadn't planned on having this conversation while over dinner with his new (entirely too young) step-father and Bull. Dorian is pretty, and far too young for Bull, but then Krem really doesn't have room to talk after this conversation. At least they're happy, and Dorian is a good cook when he's homesick. (Which is more often than Krem wants to think about, honestly. They eat a lot of Minrathin style food and Krem pretends he didn't once see Dorian crying into Bull's shoulder from how lonely he felt.) Dorian fills something in Bull that Krem doesn't really get, but he's grateful for.

“What is it?” Bull asks, also very deliberately setting his utensils down. He and Dorian exchange looks.

“It's about Cullen.”

They exchange another look, and Krem winces internally.

It's not that they don't like Cullen. Quite the contrary, actually. They like Cullen a lot, so long as they don't have to think about the fact that he and Cullen are, in fact, dating.

Dorian and Bull have a not inconsiderable age gap. Dorian and Krem are closer in age than Dorian and Bull, but his relationship with Cullen is an even larger gap than theirs. Ten years, in fact, with a few months of change on the side. But Krem is twenty three now, not some nineteen year old hot shot, and he's ex-military just as much as Bull is. A destroyed knee and hip three years in had earned him an honorable discharge, and here he is, finding his place as an adult once again.

Cullen happens to be part of that place, 33 years old and twice as battered, but healing. And the pair of them are good together. Really, really good.

Dorian fusses with the silverware as Bull takes a sip of his drink. Krem waits until he's set it down to take a deep breath and say, “I want to marry him.”

Bull freezes, and Dorian makes a noise like a punctured balloon.

“You what?” Bull says, his voice perfectly even. Krem can feel a bead of sweat running down his neck.

“I want to marry him,” he says again, and his voice doesn't crack.

“You're twenty three,” Bull says, and there's an undertone of panic in his voice. Dorian's eyes are flicking back and forth between the pair of them like he's at a tennis match.

“And you know perfectly well that if you hadn't adopted me I would have been married off at seventeen,” Krem says calmly. Bull's fingers twitch like he wants to strangle something at that, and Krem plows on. “You know that, and I know that. But I'm twenty three, I've seen enough of the world to not be blind, and I'm not going to just run off to some Chantry chapel and get hitched tomorrow. If this- if this happens, it'll be at least a two year engagement.”

Bull's shoulder's relax a little. “Married at twenty five, then.”

“Yes.” Krem licks his lips and breathes. “We've talked about it a few times. He wants me to meet his family.”

Dorian abruptly stands up, and Krem jumps a little. “I'm sorry,” Dorian says, his voice shaky, and Bull winces. “I should-”

“Please,” Krem says, and this time his voice creaks. Dorian looks at him with surprised, slightly wet eyes. “Please, stay. I know we've had our differences, but you're my family too.”

It's the first time he's said it, and Dorian's lips quiver as he slowly sits back down. Bull clears his throat, rubbing at his eye as Krem stares at the table cloth. He'd been hard on Dorian for a long time, sometimes outright hostile as he felt he was being replaced. But they really are family now, and Dorian's opinion is important. Like it or not, Dorian _is_ his step-father, and he values what he brings to the little home that he and Bull have built.

Krem clears his throat again. “His mother's more traditional,” he says. “I was going to talk to him about it when we go out to visit his family. He knows full well that you'd be furious if he tried to ask for mine, and thinks it's all very archaic, but... it's important to his family, and I feel like I should try to get their blessing. And- and yours.”

Bull reaches over, taking Dorian's hand. “Krem... shit, do _you_ think you're ready for this?”

Krem worries at the hem of the table cloth, the white so stark. Dorian's influence, as he tries so hard to be a good house-spouse even when he's buried in esoteric research. “I think I'm ready to try. And if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. We'll have at least two years to work it out, maybe even longer. I know it's not a small gap between us, but-” he has to take a moment to compose himself. “He makes me feel alive in all the best ways.”

Bull smiles, and Dorian wipes at his eyes. 

“What do you think, _kadan_?” Bull murmurs, and Dorian smiles, despite the slight smear of his eyeliner.

“I think that sounds beautiful.”

“Well,” Bull says, and Krem's heart is in his throat. “You've got our blessing.”

oOo

“We should get married.”

Cullen pauses, coffee cup against his lips, and considers. “We have talked about it,” he says after a moment, and sips. “It sounds... well, it sounds wonderful.”

It's a brisk morning a month after the dinner conversation, and Krem is holding Cullen's hand on a park bench while they drink coffee with Petunia flopped over their feet like a giant mabari mobile heater, and somehow it's the perfect moment.

“I mean it,” Krem says turning to him and offering the little box. Cullen stares down at it, and carefully sets his coffee down. Petunia's head lifts, and she stands up, sticking her dinner plate head on Cullen's lap to watch them. 

The rings are plain, just straightforward steel bands. Cullen takes the larger of the two out, and stares at it. Krem leans his head on Cullen's shoulder, and Cullen makes a soft noise as he turns his head to kiss the top of Krem's.

“A summer wedding, do you think?” he asks, and Krem smiles. 

“Summer would be nice. But we have a long time to plan.”

“We do,” Cullen agrees, and lets go of his hand so that Krem can slide the ring on his finger, and he can slide the other on Krem's. Cullen kisses his forehead, smiling softly, and Krem lifts his hand to kiss the back of it. It's quiet, and loving, and there are no tears or pain or fear here. Petunia gently nuzzles them both before laying back down, and Krem sighs in quiet contentment as Cullen wraps an arm around his shoulder. 

They sit together for a long time, the coffee cups steaming, and Krem lets the quiet fill him up, his heart warm.


End file.
